TOOL concert last night

[ricochet]

Wow, that's all I can say. This week has been a very good week for me. Thursday I saw Tori Amos, and last night I saw TOOL. Last night will be forever etched in my head. The show was outdoors, and it was really cold. I didn't even think about it though. I had really great seats about 25 feet from the stage. I could see them so well.

Fantomas opened and played for about 45 minutes. I knew this would be an amazing set. I wasn't sure how the crowd would react to them, but they seemed very stunned by Fantomas. Mike Patton is a genius. He used a duck call in several songs and made very odd noises throughout the entire set. The instruments were so intricate. It's hard to believe that Dave Lombardo, the drummer, was in Slayer. That's a really odd mixture. They were really good though.

Now for TOOL...The visuals were so amazing and fit the music so perfectly. I recommend that all of you go see them if they come anywhere remotely near you. I wish I could have gotten tickets to see them again tonight about 3 hours from where I live.

The setlist was:

The Grudge
(-) Ions
Stinkfist
Forty Six & 2
Parabol
Parabola
Eulogy
Schism (feat. Osseus Labyrint)
Disposition
Reflection
Triad (feat. Osseus Labyrint)
Eon Blue Apocalypse
The Patient
Ænema
Lateralus

I was disappointed that they didn't play anything from Undertow or Opiate, but oh well. I wish they would have played Pushit also. The contortionists from the Schism video came out during Schism and did the upside down, head-rocking motion around stage. They were very amazing. They came out again for Triad and climbed the large screens displaying the videos. They hung upside down for what seemed like twenty minutes making their bodies do unhumanly things and swinging like hands o

As I said before, it was really cold outside so the guys passed around a bottle of liquor. Maynard said it was Thunderbird, but I would like to think they would drink something a little bit better than that. I don't think Danny liked the taste very much as his facial expressed suggested after he took a sip. He was a machine behind the drums. It was very hypnotic. I stood looking amazed at what I was hearing. At one point in between songs, Maynard toasted to "infinite lapdances in heaven and infinite amounts of cocaine sniffed out of David Lee Roth's asscrack". The conversation was to a minimum as usual. Maynard also said to "take this feeling and turn it into something positive in the next few weeks" and also to "watch out for each other on the way home and be safe".

I was surprised to hear lyrics from Elvis Presley's "Caught in a Trap" at the end of "Stinkfist"...a nice addition to the already great song.

This was an amazing night. I will definitely make sure I go to every TOOL concert that comes to my area in the future.

 

[_Transparent_]

yeah they were great in Brixton earlier this year. there was a simillar set except we got Opiate and swamp song instead of 46 & 2 and Aenima and we had the world premier of the patient yeah they were great, you should all see them

 

[Canned Leech]

damn i soooo wanted to see them live, but last time i tried getting tickets they sold out in 5 minutes.... next time, i hope

 

[Centra]

Yeah, they're going to be playing in a few days here but I wasn't able to get tickets.. And most of my friends are going :\ Tool is no match for Opeth, but they're still a great band that I've yet to see live.

 

[Useful Idiot]

Could someone who has seen both TOOL and Opeth live share with me their reactions to both?

 

[MountainDweller]

Hmm...We're talking about my top two favorite bands here.

Ok, with Opeth (seen them twice), they kick major ass live. The first time I saw them, they seemed to be lacking a bit in the area of stage presence and very movementless, and the songs would have been even more excellent if maybe Peter (or somebody) would sing backup vocals (for the harmonies), but they're still excellent. Maybe the lack of movement on stage was out of a little nervousness because the second time I saw them about three weeks later, they were really getting into it with Peter and Mendez (especially) going nuts while playing. Even Mikael would go a little nuts when not singing. Then, considering, to top off the great shows, I talked with Mikael after the first one (about a minute or so...just to say "hi") and the whole band (and Peter for about half an hour) after the second. Opeth fans are really awesome, too. So...really good shows.

With Tool, who I saw a little over three weeks ago for the first time, it was pretty damn good. They put on a mesmerising show. But, there were so many people and it was at one of the crappiest venues (The Tweeter Center in Mansfield) in Massachusetts, and my seat wasn't too good, so it's hard to really make a good conclusion. If it had been a better venue, I likely would have enjoyed it more. The show was very mellow and, to me, they didn't seem to quite mix it up enough. They also only played one song from Opiate (the title track), one song from Undertow ("prison sex"), and two songs from Ænima ("stinkfist" and "third eye" [one of my favorites] but they didn't play "Ænema") so that made me kind of feel like it wasn't complete. To top it off, I was at the start of a bit of a strange mood of feeling listless, which lasted for a good week (maybe the feeling of incompleteness brought it on...or maybe it had already started before the show). They put on a decently long show, but it seemed to fly by. To make it even more strange, when it was over, it felt like it had all been a dream and didn't really happen. They put on a good show, but I can't really make too accurate of a conclusion based on that show, just because of the reasons stated above. I want to see them again, but at a better venue.

Oh, I wore one of my Opeth shirts to the Tool show (must promote them to people who'd probably like them) and got at least 10 comments from people, either directly or indirectly. I had a lot of people say things like "alright! Opeth!". I had a couple of people ask me where I got the shirt and one say "Opeth is awesome" and that I'm the first person they've seen with an Opeth shirt. Then I heard someone, after seeing me, say to his friend something like "he has an Opeth shirt...Opeth is awesome...they kick ass". So, that made me feel pretty good.

Another note...while most Tool fans kick ass, there were way too many dumbasses making things shitty. These would be the dumb-ass "i'm so macho" fucks or idiots just going to get shit-faced and stoned off their asses and act like idiots. Many people (real fans of Tool) complained about those fuckers in the reviews of the show. Perhaps the fact that it was Mansfield had a little to do with it, too.

A fun fact:
Maynard and Mikael are both born on the 17th of April. They are the singers of my top two favorite bands. I find that interesting.